There were no changes to the distributed draft minutes from the March council meeting. Motion from June to approve the minutes. Carried.

Business arising from the Minutes and Updates:

Feedback on Goward House from Pascal Auclair’s retreat: there was further complaint about the door being left open and the fluctuating temperature. Isy and Joyce have discussed this and will add some text to the Manager’s notes so the subject can be addressed at following retreats. Other suggestions to address this issue included having the teacher address the the mind and how irritation arises; have the coordinator/manager broach the subject with the group; and in the fall and spring let people know to bring additional shawls, blankets, clothing.

The AGM is set for 26th May, 2016 at 7:00pm and will be held at June and Brock’s home at 4013 Madelin Street, Victoria. The meeting will be preceded by a pot luck dinner at 6:00pm.

AGM Meeting

Meeting agenda and directors’ reports will be sent out to all attendees by Sandra two to three weeks before the meeting.

Directors’ reports still due for delivery and review:

Sunday Sit – Sandra and Margo

Beginner drop-in – Brock

Changes in Council for 2016/2017 should be an agenda item for discussion at the AGM rather than a director’s report.

Finances:

June presented an overview of Wei’s financial report covering the period of January through March 2016. VIMS will have about $700.00 less in the bank at the end of April due to a pre-payment to Goward House for Ajahn Sudanto’s one day retreat and cheque clearing for expenses paid during Pascal Auclair’s visit.

Account Balances as of April 1st, 2016:

Chequing: $3,493.97

Savings: $3,756.42

TOTAL:$7,250.39

Motion from June to accept Wei’s preliminary financial report – January to March 2016. Carried.

Brock received a request for a VIMS scholarship to support a meditator’s attendance at a residential retreat. Brock informed council that the request fit the criteria of the VIMS scholarship policy. A cheque for $103.00 will be mailed to the Salt Spring Vipassana Society to fulfill this scholarship.

Retreat Operations:

Discussion with Rod and Isy re retreat operations. Margo and Joyce were invited to the meeting but were not available. Joyce did a great job as retreat operations coordinator while Isy was away and will continue sharing this responsibility with Isy for the coming year. They are looking for additional volunteers for various retreat operations roles and will not staff the 2017 retreats just yet. Isy will update the documentation when she has time.

Communications:

Rod does backups of VIMS data once a month and acts as trouble-shooter for any technical issues.

Newsletter:

June will send out a special memo the week prior to Ajahn Sona/Margo’s public talk in May.

Website:

All the council meeting minutes have been posted.

Rod and Bruce are working on the issue they’re experiencing with uploading audio files to the website.

Constant Contact mailing list issue (457 subscribers are in a status of implied consent): Rod, Sandra and June will meet to develop a plan of action to deal with this.

Sunday Sit

Reminder list for facilitators to mention at the start of the sit. Sandra to discuss with Margo.

Heather Martin is scheduled to facilitate the Sunday night Sit on September 18th which is the weekend of Steve Armstrong’s retreat. Sandra to discuss with Margo the possibility of asking Heather to change this date.

Upcoming retreats for 2016:

All retreats will be held at Goward House.

May 20 – Ajahn Sona with Margo – public talk (Jataka tale).

May 21/22 – Ajahn Sona – acknowledge in the text of the online registration page that Ajahn Sona will no longer be travelling to conduct retreats.